Legend of Zelda: Ashes to Ashes
by Undertaker1
Summary: Modern day Hyrule. Ganondorf gets out of the sacred realm , A new Hero and his team of troops must rise and kill Ganondorf. All reviews accepted DISCONTINUED
1. Awakening

Undertaker here. This is one of my first attempts at a fic, so bare with me.

Disclaimer: I do not own Zelda, or any characters associated with it, Nintendo does.

This fic takes place in our time, but with a twist. Hyrule in this realm is essentially the U.S., so instead of the U.S., it is just Hyrule. This is also a military fic, and a prequel to a much larger one I am going to make after this one. Enough of me, enjoy the story!

The Legend of Zelda: Ashes to Ashes

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Seven years. Seven goddamned years asleep. Link stared out at what was left of Downtown Omaha, Nebraska. _They destroyed everything,_ he thought. Around him lay dead bodies of civilians and troops alike. There were various slashes and burns all over the corpse. As Link began to walk away from the 'Temple of Time', he unsheathed the Master Sword and stared at it. 

"This is supposed to be able to kill all those monsters easier than a rifle?" Link asked himself. He would try not to find out. 

As he approached the street, he found it to be relatively clear of debris. _I need a car,_ he thought, looking around. 

To his delight, he saw a dirty, dusty, but seemingly undamaged Mustang GT by the side of the road. He smiled to himself as he approached the car. _Maybe it won't be as bad as I thought._ Upon closer inspection, he found that there was half of a body in the car, with blood sprayed all over the interior leather seats. 

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Shit, Link thought, _hate to be that guy._

Having seen as much as he had already, the sight in the car wasn't as bad.

Hefting the body out of the car and depositing it on the ground, he began to examine the inside of the car. 

Link sat in the driver's seat, checking out all the seats, looking for a gun or a weapon. Upon finding none, he decided to check the engine before he got too hopeful. He popped the hood, and found the engine to be in good condition.

Link slammed the hood shut, and got in the car. The keys were in the ignition.

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This is my lucky day. He turned the keys. Nothing happened. He groaned. Shit, what now?

He began to check all the instruments. _I have a full tank of gas, plenty of oil, battery is okay, so what the hell? _He took a glance down at the pedals.

There were three pedals. _That explains it. It's a stick shift. _He put the clutch in and turned the keys. The engine roared to life, and so did Link's spirit.

He sat in the car for a moment, thinking about where to go, until his stomach growled at him, reminding him he was hungry. He drove off in search of any place he remembered that housed food. As he drove, he assessed his situation.

__

Okay, he thought, seven years ago a new girl came to my school. She was the hottest girl I had ever seen. A pointy eared, pure blooded Hylian just as I am. Black hair, beautiful brown eyes, and the perfect body. Her name was Aria Harkinian. We got to be good friends, and a few days before I asked her out, some Ganondorf guy invades.

Thousands of scaly humanoid creatures descend upon the world all at once. Russia, Africa, Southern Europe, and Southern Asia were the first to be conquered by the masses of seemingly endless creatures. Only the countries whose militaries could react quickly enough survived. In Hyrule, the creatures advanced from the pacific inward, and had succeeded in conquering every state up to Colorado. Nebraska was putting up a good fight, but most believed it would not last long.

Aria brought me to her house, and explains the whole Hero of Time bit. Then, news reaches us that the lines have fallen, and Nebraska is being invaded. She says it is time to act. We go to the local church, and she tells me it is the Temple of Time, where the Master Sword is kept. She gets me in the room where the sword is stuck in a pedestal, and tells me to pull the sword. The last thing I remember after pulling the sword is waking up and meeting this old guy who explained that I have to awaken six Sages and kill Ganondorf. So here I am, driving down a deserted road, in a destroyed city, behind enemy lines. I am totally screwed.

********************

"What is the status of Harry's hummwvs?" General Garrison asked, in an urgent manner.

"They are holed up at this location", the officer said, pointing to an area on a map, "they aren't going to be able to move".

"Sir, with all due respect," the officer continued,"if we don't get them outta there, we're gonna have a hundred caskets to fill by morning."

Garrison sighed. "Okay, pull them back. Bring them in."

"Roger that, sir." the officer said as he rushed to carry out the command.

Garrison walked out of the Joint Operations Center, or JOC, and into the cafeteria to sit down for a minute.

"General", Aria said as she sat down opposite him. "You know what today is, don't you?" she asked.

"Yeah, today is the day that guy is supposed to wake up." The general replied.

"Yep, and then I believe it will be a turning point in the war." Aria said hopefully.

"One can only hope. Is your team ready for deployment?" the general asked.

"I want you to find this guy, and bring him back here for debriefing."

"Roger that, sir". With that, Aria stood up and left to assemble her team.

Once she had gathered the Team 1 members, she began the debriefing. "Okay people, today is the day that the Hero of Time is supposed to wake up. He doesn't know what's going on, so we have to find him and bring him back here. Any questions?"

The team's demolition expert, Connely, raised his hand. "How long will we be out?"

"Mission time from insertion to extraction should be no less than 3 days." She replied. 

"We will be going with silenced weapons, we have to avoid detection at all costs."

She stated.

"Both teams will be going out. Team 1 is going to find him, and bring him to the extraction point. Halfway to the extraction point, Team 2 will cover the rear, so Team 1 can make good time. Get suited up, you have 45 minutes." With that, she went over to Team 2's locker rooms to brief them. 

********************

Link had pulled up to the ruins of Super Saver. Upon going inside, he found that the place was just ransacked, with a few dead bodies here and there.

__

Well, it's not as bad as I thought it would be. He began to go throughout the store, picking things out to eat. When he had assembled a full meal, he sat down on the floor and began to eat. When he had had his fill, he got some non-perishable food from the store, put it in the trunk of the Mustang, and decided to do some shopping. 

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I need some guns is what I need. Time to pay a visit to Guns Unlimited.

After arriving at Guns Unlimited, he found it in similar condition as the grocery store. He began searching for a rifle or something for a weapon. His dream came true when he spotted an AR-15 on the shelf. He got together about ten 40 round magazines, as many boxes of .223 Remington he could find, and put it all in the trunk with the food. _I need a pistol…….or two._

He picked out two of the Israeli Desert Eagles and got plenty of ammunition for them. After depositing it in the trunk, he began to search for things in the back of the store. 

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I like this place, he thought, no dead bodies. There, in the back room, he found a Barrett rifle. The massive stainless steel weapon was in a steel case, untouched, with boxes of the .50 cal ammo sitting right by it. 

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Hell Yes! Link thought as he put it in the backseat of the car. After driving around for a little while, he decided to try and find a safe house of some sort. He found residence in a seemingly untouched house that was overlooking a large lake. He found the house to be untouched completely. He flipped a lightswitch, and, to his amazement, found the power to be on. 

__

Yes! I even have a comfortable bed to sleep in. After unloading the car, he decided he had better get some sleep. Link was so exhausted that he was out cold within seconds of his head hitting the pillow.

Hope that first chapter was good. I know there wasn't any action, but I promise I'll have some in the next chapter. I accept all reviews, so please review!


	2. The Team

Well, I don't have many reviews yet, but hopefully soon you will review. Yes, you. The one reading this. There will be action this chapter, and lots of it.

Link's eyelids fluttered, and he opened them to a strange new environment. For a second he panicked, unsure of where he was. Then he saw the Desert Eagles by the bed and remembered where he was and what he had to do.

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Let's see if I can kill some uglies today. 

Since no one had actually come up with a name for the invading creatures, Link simply called them uglies. They had the basic outline of a human, but had no clothes. They had rough, almost scaly skin that was stronger than aluminum. They were normally armed with an AK-47 assault rifle, but if they got close they would cut you up with the razor sharp claw on their left hand. 

Link began rummaging throughout the medium sized house looking for anything that could communicate with the outside…….._or maybe the uglies, _he thought with a wry smile. He saw a phone and lifted it off of its receiver. 

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Damn, phone's dead. That made sense to Link, for Ganon wouldn't want spies telling everyone outside what he was doing.

Link left another room that had one of the largest entertainment centers he had ever seen, and he resisted the urge to see if anything was on that didn't involve the war going on outside.

Link came to the end of the downstairs hall and saw a large pile of boxes. He lifted up a box that was labeled 'clothes'. Behind the box he saw a door that was hidden. He cleared away the boxes and opened the door. 

Lying behind the door was a room full of things like computers and high tech equipment.

__

Hell yes! Link thought. He spotted a high encryption radio and turned it on. He started to pick up a radio station. 

"The monsters seem to be unending. They just keep coming and coming with no visible source." Someone stated. From what Link heard, he sounded like a professor or something.

"Do you believe this is the end of the world Dr. Baldeur?" another voice stated.

"I do not believe this is the end of the world. If these monsters push the governments too far, then they will use their greatest weapons, like a cornered animal." Dr. Baldeur said.

"You mean nuclear weapons?" the reporter asked.

"Yes. But, I do not believe that this will happen. From studying the corpses we have so far, these creatures cannot reproduce in any way. They do not even urinate. The only effect they have on their environment is its destruction. So, eventually these things have to become extinct or so scarce that they have no effect." The Dr. said. 

"Thank you Dr."

"You are quite welcome."

"Now for more complete coverage of the battles raging on in America. John, what's going on in Hyrule today."

The man apparently named John began "Well here with me I have General Garrison of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force. We are currently at Fort Bragg, home of the Delta Force. General, what can you tell us about the progress of our boys?" John asked.

"The enemy we are fighting is nothing like we have ever faced before. He does not tire, even under the stress of battle, he is driven by the blood of his prey, and he is seemingly endless. However, we are making great progress. We have established firm lines from North Dakota all the way down through Texas, and the enemy seems to be running out of manpower." The general stated. 

Link listened to the news reporters ramble on about the same thing and after awhile, he changed the frequency and began to here continuous beeps. _Morse code? _He thought.

After listening to it for awhile he determined that it was not Morse code. Suddenly, he began to hear a rumbling noise. He went to another bedroom and very carefully peered through the window. Tanks. He saw maybe eight to ten tanks rolling by the house. Following it were two trucks full of uglies. He waited until they had passed and exhaled loudly in relief.

__

Where were they headed? He asked himself. He decided to find out. He gathered together his AR-15, strapped on his two Desert Eagles, got his Barrett loaded and ready, and hopped in the Mustang to follow the tanks.

He followed them for about twenty minutes, and then the tanks stopped on top of a hill overlooking a base. An Army base. _Oh, Shit. _Link got out of the car and set up the Barrett, using the scope to see what was going on. Uglies began pouring out of the trucks, and setting up machine guns and mortars. _I have to act now, _Link thought. He lined up the crosshairs where the fuel tank would be on the behemoths 200 yards in front of him. 

A thunderous boom echoed across the countryside, and all the uglies jumped in shock and fright. The massive .50 cal BMG made its mark as the tank erupted in a mass of flames. Link took little time to acknowledge his success as he lined up another target. This time it was one of the troop transport trucks. _It should have a pretty big tank of gas. _Link thought, smirking to himself. He squeezed the trigger. 

Another ear-splitting boom rocked the plains, sending uglies running everywhere, frantically trying to find the source of the sniper. Half of the uglies were taken down as the truck blew up and sent shrapnel in all directions. Link slowly and calmly began to take down the tanks in the same manner. Soon, only a handful of uglies were left. _This ought to be fun._

Link let them run around like chickens with their heads cut off. He began to reload the massive weapon. When he was ready to rock 'n roll again, he began to shoot the infantry one by one. After the last ugly had gone down, Link surveyed the damage. Nine tanks, two trucks, and a handful of infantry had gone down by his hands. _Not bad for my first day of work._

By now the Army base had troops up on the hill, scratching their heads about the carnage they saw. _I'd better head back and set up some kind of defense at my house. _With that, he headed back in his car, wondering what awaits him tomorrow.

They were now on their way. Ten fully armed and ready to rock Seals were on their way to meet their future leader. _I hope._ Aria thought as the Black Hawk neared its drop-off point. The chopper slowed to a hover right above the Landing Zone, or LZ. 

The troops on board were Austin Connely, the team's demolitions expert, Henry Vegas, one of the two heavy machine gunners, Josh Von, an M4 specialist, Grady Tomilson, M4 specialist and squad two leader, Dan Moran, the team's corpsmen (medic), Matt Hanec, the sniper, Justin Sanchez, M4 specialist, Kyle Romero, the other heavy machine gunner, Frank Kose, M4 specialist, and Myself, M4 specialist, squad one leader, and Team 1 leader.

Two ropes were thrown out of either side of the chopper and in less than ten seconds all of the team was on the ground, securing the perimeter.

"Perimeter secured." Tomilson whispered into his comm.

"Roger, proceed forward 2-5." Aria replied.

"Copy, proceeding forward."

The two squads continued forward until they came to an intersection in the city. Aria signaled for Tomilson.

"Yeah?" Tomilson asked as he neared her position.

"There are birds circling over that burnt out office building, keep your eyes peeled."

"Yes sir." He responded and returned to his squad's position to relay the news.

As the team neared the suspected building, all hell broke loose. 

Shots began pouring in from all directions, muffling any hope for the teams to communicate effectively. 

Vegas and most of the team responded by opening fire on anything that moved.

Uglies began dropping like flies as countless numbers were picked off by the accurate fire of the Seals.

"Fall back, fall back!" Aria screamed frantically, trying to get her team to a better position. One by one, her team began peeling themselves from their positions and running towards the building that the others had gathered at.

"Set up a perimeter around this building, and don't give the bastards a chance." Tomilson ordered with a grin. His squad suddenly turned their attention on the uglies who had just come from a building across the street. 

Romero chewed through the uglies and continued to kill any in range, while the others got to places where they could defend themselves. 

Aria and her squad of five had secured the building right next to Tomilson, and were laying waste to all the uglies they could find. Aria was near the corner of the building, and saw an ugly raise his AK-47. That was the last thing he ever did, because two 5.56mm bullets pierced his skull at that moment, sending brain fragments everywhere. 

She looked to her left just in time to see Romero cream a handful of uglies by himself, the chatter of his M249 machine gun a sudden comfort for Aria.

Minutes flew by as what seemed like seconds, and soon, the chaos had subsided, and the team was now peering through their night vision goggles, or NVG's, looking for anything that could pose a possible threat. 

"All units report in." Aria tensed, wondering about any casualties. She breathed a sigh of relief as nine troops checked in, telling her that she had had no casualties. 

"We have a good vantage point from here, so this is where we stay for the night. Everyone stay awake, we don't want these guys to catch us with our thumbs up our butts." No sooner had she said this than another group of uglies began attacking.

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It's gonna be a long night.

A lot more action in that one, and more to come. You like? You don't like? Either way please review!


	3. The Ghosts are born

Well, the story takes an interesting twist in this chapter. No romance in this chapter, sorry, but there should be some in the next one. With that, enjoy.

Aria awoke slowly, first opening her eyes, and then getting adjusted to the darkness. She suddenly became very fearful.

__

I don't hear anything.

She rummaged around in her pack for her NVG's, and slipped them on. She found herself in the exact same position as last night.

She was in a warehouse no larger than 15 x 15 feet, with half of the front wall blown off. This allowed easy access and viewing of the intersection outside their location.

All of her squad members were in the exact same positions too, but they looked like they had been wide-awake. She slipped off the NVG's.

"Rise 'n shine, sir. You took a nasty bump on the head, and you've been unconscience since." Vegas said. The black haired man grinned and offered her a hand.

She accepted it and pulled herself up. "How's it been?" she asked groggily.

"They've been comin' in waves all night long, last one was at about 5:30, but we've been able to take care of 'em. No use in silencers, the whole city knows we're here. They've been periodically sending tanks, but we took care of those too." he said, running his hand along a still-smoking AT-4.

"How's our ammo?" she asked.

"JOC air-dropped food and ammo a few hours ago via helicopter. Everyone's got five hundred plus rounds and then some." he said, scanning the outside. 

The sun had just begun to peek over the horizon, and there was a thick fog that prevented them from seeing any more than three hundred yards out.

"How's Tomilson doin?" she asked after a quick scan around the building.

"Bout the same as us. Hanec's monster rifle's been doing a number on any armor that comes through the east. He's been taking out snipers all night. If our other sniper hadn't been captured and tortured to death, it would've been a lot easier on him." Vegas finished with another glance to the outside.

"Damn," she heard Moran curse, "here they come again."

"Time to rock." Vegas grinned as he hoisted his M249 with the bipod up on the ledge.

"Let's kick some ass." she said, returning his grin with one of her own. She got in a good position to defend, and only then did she realize the extent of what went on. 

There were carcasses from the creatures strewn all over for at least three hundred yards. Wreckage from tanks, APC's, and big supply trucks were scattered about, charred black from their fuel erupting. The smell of rotting bodies permeated the air, and it caused her stomach to knot up. The streets were literally running red with the blood of these 'things'. _Well, that's what you get when you invade our country. _

Suddenly, the creatures started appearing in great numbers. They were just running and shooting, not really aiming. Two quick shots from Aria's M4 and one of the creatures was meat. She squeezed off round after round into the heads of the oncoming horde of monsters.

"Tomilson, we've got two supply trucks heading in from the west, see what you can do about it." 

"Copy that." Tomilson responded. A missile almost immediately flew from squad two's position towards one of the trucks. The creatures tried to jump out, but they were too late. The truck erupted into flames, burning those nearby and sending deadly shrapnel in all directions. 

She said into the comm. Amongst the noise and rhythmic plinks of the machine guns going off, she made out some kind of different gunshot noise. A high powered rifle of some sort maybe?

Then she saw it: a small flash from a window of one of the buildings. 

"Hanec, we've got a sniper at twelve 'o clock. Take him out." She radioed to the sniper.

"Copy that, he's history."

At that moment, a thunderous boom echoed from atop the warehouse, and the window the sniper was in shattered, and blood and organs flew out. _Sucker, _Hanec thought.

Vegas stopped shooting to reload, and the creatures saw it. They ran straight to his position, trying to take him out. Moran, however, was already on it. He popped up from his position and pulled a few rounds off, taking a few down. Aria joined him, taking down the rest.

The fight continued on, and their position was soon being swarmed with creatures. 

"It was never this bad before!" Vegas yelled from his position beside Aria.

"Just don't let up!" she yelled back. 

Suddenly, a shape loomed at the edge of the receding fog, and soon it was clear that the shape was a Russian T-72, and there were three of them. 

"Tanks!" Aria screamed frantically, "We've got three tanks! Hanec, hur-" before she could finish her sentence, a boom announced that the 90mm main gun on the tank had just fired. 

Aria heard a sharp whistling noise, and before she could react, it exploded just above her head. 

"Go all out!" Tomilson screamed with rage, "Don't hold anything back!"

"Let's rock!" Vegas and Romero both shouldered their machine guns, and ran towards the horde, going full-auto the entire way. Everyone except Aria followed suit, running into the crowd, guns blazing. 

Vegas ran out of ammo in the tub for his gun, and dropped it on the ground. He then pulled out his Magnum Revolver, and with that and hand-to-hand combat, fought his way through monster after monster. 

After Hanec had finally destroyed all of the tanks, he looked through the scope to see his teammates going at it, and they were winning!

Vegas punched a monster in the ribs, and then gave his neck a twist. He heard a sick crunch, and the body went limp. He dropped it and began to dish out .44 Magnum bullets as he pleased, watching the bullets impact close-range. The effect was devastating, the Magnum tearing through the monsters' poor excuse for armor.

It was all over soon, and all the monsters were dead or dying.

The men began cheering, and congratulating themselves. 

Romero and Vegas reloaded their weapons, and Moran remembered Aria needed treating.

He ran over to her position and found her with Tomilson. There was a deep cut across her chest, and half of a monster's blade stuck in her leg. 

"Oh, shit." Moran breathed. 

He immediately began wrapping her chest wound, and gave her doses of morphine to keep the pain from bruises and small cuts down. By this time, the team, except for Hanec, had circled around her. 

"Will she be okay?" 

"Can we move her?"

"How bad is it?"

Moran ignored these questions, and began to pull the blade from her leg. A sharp hiss of pain from Aria and a long squirt of blood told him to leave it in.

"We need to get her to a hospital ASAP. She won't live more than a day." Moran told Tomilson.

"Alright" Tomilson said. 

He began to dial the frequency for JOC. 

"This is Tomilson, I am requesting immediate evac for a critically wounded at our location."

"Roger, but you will have to go to West Center, that's the safest place right now."

"Copy that."

Tomilson returned to the group. "Okay, we have to get to West Center, it's about a mile north of here, the chopper will be there to pick her up. Moran, get her on a stretcher. Alright, let's move like we've got a purpose!" 

The team began to move across the street, and when they reached the other end, they saw a ton of monsters waiting for them. 

"Ambush!"

********************

Aria came to very slowly, the morphine still in her system. She was sitting in the passenger seat of a car, and she was reclined in the seat. The world was speeding by at a rate she couldn't comprehend. She tried to sit up and moaned in pain. A hand gently pushed her back down.

"Easy, just lay down. Relax. You need rest." a soothing yet familiar voice told her. She complied, and soon drifted off to sleep.

Link was sure of who she was, the black hair and stunning face a dead give-away.

He was speeding down I-80, going to his safe house as fast as possible.

He glanced over at Aria. Her chest had bandages on it, and her leg had a blade through it, and it was bleeding profusely. _There is only one way to close that wound. Cauterize it._

He stopped the car right by his 'house', and immediately brought her to one of the many bedrooms in the house. He took off all her clothes down to the underwear, and laid her on top of the bed.

He walked into the kitchen, turned on the gas stove, and set an old clothes iron on the flames.

He went back to Aria and unwrapped her chest bandages. The wound wasn't too deep, it would heal normally. Her leg, however.......

He put the iron on a cookie sheet, and placed it on the bed. Then, he slowly began to pull the blade out of her leg. Blood kept gushing out onto his hands, his shirt, and his jeans. After what seemed like hours, the blade finally came free. 

Link picked up the iron and pressed it against the wound. There was a hissing sound, and soon the wound was completely closed. He began to wrap the wound in bandages, and when he was finished, he brought a chair by the bed and fell asleep.

Aria stirred, and she awoke slowly to find that she was in a comfortable bed, with lush sheets and nice furniture around the room. Then she spotted him. His sleeveless shirt was stained with blood, and so were his jeans. He had blonde hair, a very muscular build, she noted with a smirk, and he appeared to be in his mid-twenties.

He began to wake up, and when he opened his eyes, she realized who he was. "Link..." 

"Yeah." he smiled. It had been so long since she could enjoy his company. His dazzling smile, his deep, baby blue eyes.......she could go on forever.

"I guess its time to kick Ganon's ass and end this war." he said.

"Yeah," she tried to sit up, but an immense pain tore through her leg, causing her to fall back down. 

"You need rest." he said gently, "we'll talk more when you wake up."

With that, he walked out the door, leaving her to her thoughts. 

Link's mind was racing. _She's here! Yes! _He had waited so long to see her again. Maybe now they could take down Ganon together. 

She had only gotten more beautiful with age. _Have to start thinking about the present again, _he told himself, _can't get my hopes up too high. _

Link decided to take this time to set up booby traps for any wandering uglies.

First, he began to set up hand grenades half way in the ground with string attached to the pins. He attached the string to various things, like the windowsills, the garage, and other things that the enemy might have to go through to get in. 

The slightest movement of any of those things would pull the pins, causing a chain reaction, blowing up sections of the front yard one by one.

Next, he went to the garage through the house and found a big fork and a few shovels.

He brought these to the back and started digging holes, three feet wide in diameter, two feet deep. He was almost finished when he saw Aria limping towards him. He rushed over to her.

"Careful! Let me help you." Link let her lean on him for support as he helped her back to the house.

"I wanted to talk to you," she said panting, "about what's been happening."

"Alright, talk, but sit down." he said, helping her to a chair.

"Where's the Master Sword?" she asked, looking around.

"It's in the weapons room."

They were in a room full of lush furniture, all leather, with a big screen TV and multiple speakers on the wall. It had white carpet, and white walls. 

"Okay," she started, "you were sixteen when you pulled the Master Sword. I knew it would lock you in, but not that long. It has been seven years, and you are finally back. Now, the general you will be reporting to will be General Garrison. Garrison and I have come up with a few plans to take care of Ganon. The first plan would be to find the ocarina of time that our ancestors used to travel back and forth through time. With this, we could go back in time and take care of things from there. But, if anyone besides Ganon would die, time would be eternally screwed. The other option was to give you special bullets graced with the power of light. It is the only thing that can penetrate Ganondorf's castle in Nevada. To do this with the bullets, I would have to practice with my magic. We would also need the seven sages to banish Ganon right before he died, so he would be erased from the annals of time. It is your choice."

Link, who was listening patiently, had a thoughtful look on his face. "You can use magic? How can you do that?" he asked.

.

"Link, remember when I told you about the Triforce? Well, Ganon has the piece of power. I, have the piece of Wisdom, and you have the piece of Courage."

Link arched an eyebrow. "And how will this help me?" he asked skeptically. 

"You can do things, things that no man could ever do. You almost don't feel pain. You have the ability to push yourself harder, longer than any normal man. You are also much stronger and faster."

"Oh." Link said, deep in thought. _So I can do Superman shit? Sweet!_

"I can do these things to an extent, but not as well as you. However, I am much better and stronger with magic." she said with a smirk.

"Well, on a different note," Link said, changing the subject, "I think that the team should stay here. The entire team is ten people, right? Well, there are plenty of bedrooms, and with weekly supply drops, and a little customizing, we could turn this place into a secret fortress. We could deploy at our own will anytime, and get anywhere. It would be perfect." Link said, suddenly excited.

"That would be pretty useful. But, They might not like shipping food. Or ammunition." 

"Well, there is a Super Saver about five minutes from here, with all the food intact and refrigerated. And, there is a Guns Unlimited ten minutes away that we could get all our 5.56mm from."

"I'll bring it up to Garrison and see what he thinks. Anyway, I want to go out and strike the 'uglies' as you call them. I want to take them down." 

"Well, we could go hunting for them if you want to." Link suggested. 

"Okay." Aria replied.

The two got all the heavy weapons together, and took off in the Mustang.

About five minutes later, they approached a cliff overlooking an enemy base.

"Alright, let's go in nice and slow, and then bust in when they least expect it. You take the M4, and I'll take the Barrett." Link said, looking at the base through a pair of binoculars.

"You can hold that thing?" Aria asked, amazed when he picked the forty plus pound rifle up and heft it on his shoulder.

"Yeah, so?" 

"I can't even hold it up that long." she said.

"Well, when you've got muscles like these," he said, flexing his sculpted arms, "it isn't as difficult."

Her heart skipped a beat as she saw his huge biceps and triceps. 

They started down the hill at a steady jog, the dusk sun shielding the enemy from seeing them. When they were about fifty feet from the front entrance, Link shouldered the massive rifle and squeezed off a round into the fuel barrels by the gate. 

There was a massive explosion, and a small mushroom cloud of flame descended into the air. Uglies began running all over the place, an alarm letting the whole base know they were under attack. 

Aria walked forward, holding her hand straight out, charging up an energy ball. When a tank rolled out of the entrance, she threw the ball of energy with lethal accuracy, the tank being consumed completely in golden light. Only a few scraps of metal were left.

Link was extremely impressed, and just sauntered into the base, picking off lightly armored vehicles with the .50. He let Aria take care of the big tanks. She had dropped off her M4 somewhere, and now simply had a Desert Eagle that Link had given her. They left a devastating wake of dead and burning uglies and vehicles.

Link shot another ugly, having also drawn his Desert Eagle. One ran up to him, blade drawn back. It tried to slash at him, but he grabbed the blade, and with little effort, punched the uglie's face in. Unfaltering, he turned to see another three running towards him, but they had AK's. He raised his handgun and squeezed off three shots, each penetrating the skulls of the uglies. 

Aria grabbed the neck of another ugly, and focused magic through her hand into the ugly.

It screamed in pain and shook, as if 100,000 volts of electricity were coursing through it.

In the process of 'electrocuting' the creature, another tried to sneak up behind her, but she sensed it, and turned to put a bullet between its eyes. The thing's head exploded, sending brain fragments everywhere, the body falling down lifelessly. She dispatched a few more, and found that there were no more around her.

She glanced at Link, who had just broken one's neck with a sickening _crunch!_

He let it fall to the ground, and looked around for any more. 

"Hey, we killed them all." then he suddenly broke into laughter. 

"W-what's so funny?" Aria asked between laughs.

"The looks on their faces were priceless!" he said, walking back to the car, his Barrett in tow.

*********************

"Shit!" Von said as they walked into the debriefing room back at JOC.

"I can't believe I let them get her!" Moran said, cursing himself. He sat down and put his head in his hands.

"What the hell happened!?" a disheveled looking Garrison walked in, and immediately his expression softened upon seeing Moran covered in blood, and all of their faces covered with blood and dirt.

"What happened?" he asked Tomilson, who was just staring off into space with a blank look on his face.

"We lost her." he said after a few seconds, "We let them get her."

"Aria?" the general asked with a worried expression. Tomilson nodded, and then his expression turned into one of grim determination.

"Sir! Requesting an immediate dispatch to find Aria and the Hero of Time, sir!" 

The others began standing up, the same look of determination lining their war-torn faces.

"I'm afraid that would be suicide. I can't allow you to go searching the city, you would be slaughtered. If Aria isn't drugged, she'll unleash her Triforce on them, and she'll contact us somehow." 

"Sir," Sanchez started, "we have a job to do, at least let us go back out there and find the Hero of Time." The others nodded their approvements. 

Garrison sighed. "Alright, but get some rest first."

"Yes, sir." Tomilson said. They all filed out of the room, heading for the barracks, their faces a little brighter knowing that they would be heading out in a few hours.

__

Goddesses bless these soldiers, no- these Ghosts. Yes, that's going to be the official name of the squad.

That's it for chapter 3. Will there be romance in the next chapter? You will have to review and see!


	4. The Plan

As he strolled down the hall, Lieutenant O'Toole glanced again at the list.

Grady Tomilson:

Height: 5'6"

Weight: 256lbs.

Hair Color: light brown

Eye Color: black

Military ID: 7562868

Occupation: M4 specialist, squad one leader, and medic

Genetic Background: Pure Hylian

Current Status: Active

Austin Connely:

Height: 5'7" 

Weight: 253lbs.

Hair Color: red

Eye Color: black

Military ID: 7649245

Occupation: Squad one demolition expert

Genetic Background: Gerudo

Current Status: Active

Kyle Romero:

Height: 5'9" 

Weight: 325lbs.

Hair Color: silver

Eye Color: green

Military ID: 76839868

Occupation: Squad two SAW (squad automatic weapon)

Genetic Background: Sheikah

Current Status: Active

Matt Hanec:

Height: 5'7"

Weight: 278lbs.

Hair Color: blonde

Eye Color: blue

Military ID: 32416453

Occupation: Squad one sniper, Barrett Bolt action .50

Genetic Background: Pure Hylian

Current Status: Active

Josh Von:

Height: 5'3"

Weight: 226lbs.

Hair Color: brown

Eye Color: dark green

Military ID: 8275465

Occupation: M4, squad two radio

Genetic Background: Pure Hylian

Current Status: Active

Aria Harkinian:

Height: 5'3"

Weight: 132lbs.

Hair Color: jet black

Eye Color: brown

Military ID number: 9174822

Occupation: Ghost squad one leader, M4 specialist

Genetic Background: Pure Hylian

Current Status: MIA (missing in action)

Jason Vegas:

Height: 5'8"

Weight: 320lbs.

Hair Color: light brown

Eye Color: black

Military ID: 4193763

Occupation: squad two SAW (squad automatic weapon) gunner

Genetic Background: Hylian, Goron

Current Status: Active

Frank Kose:

Height: 5'4"

Weight: 245lbs.

Hair Color: blonde

Eye color: green

Military ID: 9176738

Occupation: M4 specialist, squad two demolition expert

Genetic Background: Pure Hylian

Current Status: Active

Lita Sanchez:

Height: 5'2"

Weight: 145lbs.

Hair Color: light brown

Eye Color: brown

Military ID: 8465739

Occupation: Squad two sniper, Barrett M82A1 Semi-automatic

Genetic Background: Hylian, Zora

Current status: Assigned

Justin Santago:

Height: 5'6"

Weight: 220lbs.

Hair Color: brown

Eye Color: black

Military ID: 9548732

Occupation: M4, squad two radio

Genetic Background: Pure Hylian

Current Status: Active

Dan Moran:

Height: 5'5"

Weight: 232lbs.

Hair Color: light blonde

Eye Color: turquoise

Military ID: 8684768

Occupation: M4, squad two medic

Genetic Background: Hylian, Kokiri

Current Status: Active

The list was pretty long. They were all pure Hylians. That was about as rare as a chicken wire submarine. The Ghosts? What was this team for? _Oh, well._ He decided it was none of his business, and dropped it on General Garrison's desk. The exhausted General had fallen asleep in his plush chair.

"Sir." the Lieutenant said quietly. The General stirred, and blinked a few times.

"Wha.....?" His head snapped forward, and he gave the Lieutenant a withering look.

"Sir, I have the full report on the Ghosts that you requested.

"Oh! Oh, yes, thank you, Lieutenant.

The Lieutenant saluted, and then left the General's office. Link was going to need the list if he was going to get to know his team. He filed the report, and saw a letter on his desk that had the seal of the President on it. _Uh oh, this can't be good._

He opened the letter, and was shocked at what he found. 

__

General,

I have received intelligence reports on locations of Ganondorf's major command centers.

We are starting to push them back, but I fear that they will receive reinforcements soon, just like they did last time. We must not let this happen. If we are pushed back again, we won't have the manpower to launch an offensive again. I am authorizing Nuclear force to destroy these command centers. Destroy the bastards, and reclaim Hyrule. Don't hope on getting Ganondorf. With his Triforce, only Link can kill him. 

Godspeed, General

The General thought about this news. Ganon can survive a nuke? Damn. This Triforce sounds really powerful. Then the fax machine began printing up a letter. Good, he thought after reading it, we have the location of the Hero of Time. He dialed a number on the phone.

"Tomilson, we have a go ahead on the operation. Be in the briefing room at 1500 hours."

"Yes sir." Tomilson responded. The General could hear the excitement in his voice.

Inside the waiting room, the team was all prepped and ready for the mission. They were now talking amongst themselves, getting to know each other better. When Lita, squad two's new sniper walked in, the team started hooting and whistling. 

"Hi boys." she said seductively, eyeing Vegas as he simply stared open-mouthed at her.

"So, where were you stationed before the war?" Kose asked Connely as Vegas began talking to Sanchez.

"Well, I was a Seal, training with the Delta in the Arctic. We were just in competition with each other on whom could sit in the water the longest when we got news of the creatures. We were immediately shipped back home, and when our transport landed, we were swamped with the monsters. I barely got out alive. I was one of the twelve survivors of that cargo plane. Got picked up the next day in a recon chopper, and ended up here. How about you?" 

"I was in Uma, Arizona. The second city to be hit. It was a massacre. We tried to help the civilians, but they got killed too quickly. I saw kids and women lined up and shot out on the street. Thousands of them, and nothing I could do about it. Now, I'm making a difference. Tell you what though," Kose continued, "this Link guy better be all he's sized up to be."

"You won't be disappointed, son." All heads turned to see General Garrison in the doorway, a CD in his hand. "Come along, boys. We got a mission to cover."

The team followed the General into the darkened briefing room, where a projector was hooked up to a computer. The General booted the CD. A map appeared on the screen, with various things on it, like enemy scout and armor positions.

"Okay, this one should be a lot shorter than the last one, you'll be back here by nightfall. You will proceed West down Dodge Street, and turn North onto 168th. Proceed down 168th until you reach Grove Street. The target location is 2379 on the South side of the street. From there, you will stick to the main roads, and head to the golf course to the West. This is the LZ. Entire mission from insertion to extraction no less than three hours. Any questions?"

He glanced around, and was met by determined stares. "Tomilson, I want you to put him in charge of the team as soon as you find him. Give me an assessment of his leadership skills when you get back." Garrison told him.

With that, the General wished them luck, and dismissed them. 

Before they left, they all turned to him at attention and shouted as one:

"SEMPER FI!!!" 

"Carry on!" he yelled back.

After they had left, the General began to weep quietly, moved by the loyalty of his troops.

On the way to the LZ, the noise of the chopper left no opportunity for chatter, so they took the time to check out their surroundings. All the Ghosts were taking a mental picture of the passing landscape, even though they knew they would never need it. Tomilson saw the pilot hold up two fingers. 

He got the attention of the chopper, and held up two fingers to them. They seemed to understand, as all of them got locked and loaded, and Kose even put a book he was reading in a pocket of his jungle camouflage pants.

He glanced at the faces of the men now under his command. There was total relaxation painted all over their faces. They lived for this. 

The Black Hawk slowed to a hover, and the troops jumped out onto the roof of a building under the chopper.

Tomilson made circles in the air, and the chopper flew away, leaving the team on their own to listen to the distant chatter of automatic weapons. They made their way down through the main stairs of the building. Tomilson glanced at Von for the reading on the motion sensor. Before they deployed, the Pentagon issued the new technology to the Special Ops teams. 

It was an ingenious little device that read the frequencies that the heart of any living organism gives off, and tracks it on a small LED screen. It gave the distance of the enemy and their altitude compared to the user's, telling you if they were above or below you. 

Von gave him the go-ahead, and Tomilson motioned for Kose and Connely to head out of the building, and the rest of the team followed suit. They started heading up Center Street, and when they reached what used to be a Gas station, they spotted an unhurt truck with a body hanging out of it.

Vegas held up a fist, and the rest of the team stopped and kneeled down, peering around for enemies. Tomilson approached Vegas.

"What is it?" 

"Sir," he said, pulling out a map of where they were supposed to go, "according to my estimate, we have to go, we have four miles to cover. We very well could cover this ground on foot, but we would be stiff from holding up our weapons, and it would take us about three hours to get there and then take Link to the LZ. Now, over there there is a Chevy Silverado that we could use to get there, and it would take half an hour at the most." Vegas said, glancing at the truck.

"Let's do it." Tomilson said. Tomilson looked over to Romero.

"Romero! Come here!"

"Romero shuffled over, looking curiously at a bush that just moved.

"You were a mechanic at the Base in Hereford in England, right?" Tomilson asked him, his face hopeful.

"Yeah, what you got in mind, chief?"

"Well, we've got a long way to go, and that Silverado over there is mighty inviting." 

"Got it, chief." Romero said, grinning. The team moved towards the truck, but halfway there, they heard not-to-distant gunshots. The whole team immediately set up a perimeter.

After a few minutes, there was a distant screeching of tires, and a series of explosions. Then, there was silence. Questioning glances were exchanged between teammates. They once again began moving towards the truck, and when they got there, a truck came up from behind them, but apparently it didn't see them, and screeched right by. It was filled with Uglies, some were burned, and some were even on fire.

"Sanchez, take the truck down." If the truck did see them, but instead of attacking, reported them, they could have the entire operation blown. Sanchez responded by aiming her massive weapon at the truck, and with the squeeze of the trigger, the truck flipped over frontward, it's gas tank having been blown away. Sanchez hefted her big rifle on her shoulder, a smirk playing across her lips.

Romero, meanwhile, had been checking out the truck for anything that might be wrong with it. Upon finding nothing the matter, he lifted the body out of the passenger seat and started the vehicle. Tomilson got in the passenger seat, while the rest got in the flatbed. Sanchez and Hanec had their .50's ready, just in case another truck came along. Romero started down center, and Tomilson had the map on his lap, instructing Romero on where to go. 

"Come on, man. There aren't any cops here. Floor it!" Tomilson said in aggravation.

In response to his superior's orders, Romero put the gas to the floor, and the twelve-liter monster diesel engine roared, and soon they were well on their way, going 125 mph.

Romero slowed, and turned onto 168th. He put the pedal back on the floor, and they started getting very close to their future leader.

The setting sun cast a red-orange glow on the house, and Link just stared at it. Aria was still in the car, and she was just as flabbergasted.

"How did they know I was here? How did they know which house?" Link asked himself quietly.

"What do we do now?" Aria asked. Link could tell she was losing strength, the magic obviously having taken a toll on her physical well being. "We leave."

Link gathered all the weapons, clothes, ammo, and food he could find, and packed it all in the Mustang.

He started down the street when suddenly, a supply truck came speeding towards them. Link took a sudden turn into the nearest driveway, and hopped out. He got the Barrett, and took several poor, panicked shots at the truck. It showed no signs of stopping, and he ducked as bullets started whizzing past his head faster than he could comprehend. The uglies poured out of the trucks, and soon Link was ambushed with enemies. He tried to grab for a different gun, but a searing pain in his chest told him that wasn't a good idea. He collapsed to the ground, and felt claws ripping at his flesh. His vision started to blur, and he fought it away. He swung at the dark blue figure that obscured his vision, and the result was a pain he had yet to experience. 

His whole body felt as if it were on fire, and he squirmed under the pressure of something on him. Then, as abruptly as the pain started, it stopped. He stumbled up, and tried to walk to the Mustang. He made out a figure being dragged from the vehicle, and something going through the figure, and being pulled out. Then, the darkness at the side of his eyes spread, and he blacked out.

He woke up sprawled on the ground, in a pool of his own dried blood. He could see relatively clear, and he tried to stand up. His entire body screamed in protest, but he got to his feet, despite the pain ripping at his senses. He glanced around him, and saw blood all over the place. He followed the blood to its source, and found Aria, with a blade sticking through her, attached to a blackened corpse. Blood was all around her, and her shirt was stained completely red with blood. He stumbled over to her, and fell on his knees.

"No, Aria." his voice was hoarse, and his throat was burning. At that moment, he collapsed onto the ground.

"Turn here." Tomilson instructed Romero. Romero took a left, and headed down the street.

"Shit, look at that."

Tomilson looked at the Mustang that had blood all over it. Then he noticed two familiar figures right by it. One was a black haired girl that had a blade running through her, and the other was a blonde guy that was known to them as the Hero of Time. The latter was currently sitting up, pulling the blade from her chest.

Rom stopped the truck next to the Mustang, and everyone jumped out to aid them.

"I don't think she'll live...," Link said, staring at Tomilson as he ran over to Aria.

Moran rushed to her side and immediately began to treat her for everything that he could.

He first of all gave her morphine, and started to stitch up the chest wound.

Tomilson pulled Link over to the truck, and got him in the passenger seat. Tomilson got in the driver's seat and sighed. He looked at Link, who had gunshot wounds to his arm, legs, and a nasty slash on his chest. It was a wonder that he wasn't dead already.

"What happened?" was the first thing that came out of the leader's mouth.

"We were ambushed. We didn't stand a chance. They knew we were here. Who are you?" he said with no emotion in his voice except pain.

"I am a member of your future team. We were sent to take you back to base to brief you on the situation and what we had to do. We need to get back to the base and get her to a hospital." Tomilson said.

But Link had fallen unconscience. Tomilson sighed, and Vegas pounded on the back window of the truck, and Tomilson turned to see the team back in the truck with Aria in there. Tomilson immediately started the car and headed towards the golf course for their extraction.

When he reached the golf course, he set out a red flare for the chopper, and in a few moments it appeared above them, and when it landed the team loaded up and soon they were on there way back home.

Three weeks later, both Aria and Link had recovered, and Link was fully briefed on the situation. He had yet to earn his team's full respect, but that would have to wait. Link dialed up Tomilson from his office and asked him to be there as soon as possible. Link started filling out the paperwork for applying for the position of the Team leader. As soon as he put the pen down, Tomilson was in his office.

"You rang." Tomilson said in his monotone voice.

"Yeah. Two things. First, we are going to need special equipment for this job, and I don't mean what everyone else has. But, before we do anything, I need your opinion on something."

"And what would that be?"

"What does the team think of me? As a leader, or anything else?"

"Well," Tomilson thought for a moment. "They really were impressed with how you recovered from three gunshot wounds in three weeks. As for leadership, they all pretty much agree with everything you say. They especially like how you don't bullshit when there is a job to do, and how you do things with them, and not just tell them to do things. They also like how you talk, and some of the things you can do. Beating Vegas in arm wrestling is quite an achievement." Tomilson grinned.

"Yeah, but I had a sore hand for a few days afterwards. Thanks for the update. Now," Link continued, "we need to gather the team to discuss things. Have everyone at the cafeteria at 18:00 hours."

"Yes, sir." Tomilson said. He saluted, and Link saluted back and dismissed him.

Everyone was in the cafeteria, and were chatting happily amongst themselves.

"Hey!" everyone said when Link walked in. He gave a mock bow, and took his place at the head of the table they had set up.

"How we doing boys?" Link asked the team. 

"Pretty damn good, sir." Vegas said, grinning like a Cheshire cat. Link nodded, and opened a notebook that he brought with him.

"Alright, " Link cleared his throat, "the reason you are all here is because our current equipment just won't work for the kind of things we do. For example, we can't deploy from this base, because a chopper is too noticeable, and suprise is something we always want on our side. So, I say we inhabit the old underground base at Offut. We also need our own vehicles. Any suggestions?"

Moran spoke up. "How about a Hummer. We could enhance it any way we need to, and there are plenty of gas stations still functioning that we could use."

Everyone nodded. "Alright, that problem is taken care of." Link said, noting the change in his notebook. Now, the standard round we use is not powerful enough to knock down and kill the enemy. Any suggestions for a new caliber?"

"How about 30-06?" Vegas suggested. "Well, that would be nice, but not everyone is three hundred plus pounds with the frame of a grizzly bear. So, full automatic with 30-06 would destroy our shoulders."

"What about .308 Winchester?" Moran asked.

"I'll look into that." 

"Okay, now that that is taken care of, does anyone have anything they want to change?"

This time Sanchez spoke up. "Yeah. These uglies can't shoot for shit, generally speaking. So, the only real danger we have is when they swarm us, and slash us with their blades. So, why not replace the kevlar with just metal plates on our chests and backs?"

"Alright, we'll do that." Link said, happy that people were speaking up.

"Something I would like," Hanec said, "is to switch rifles. .50 cal is awesome for killing anything and everything, but lugging the forty-pound rifle for five miles is a serious strain. Do you think we could get .300 mag armor piercing instead?" 

"I don't know about that, but I'll talk to Garrison about it." Link said. 

"Now, you've all been in some sort of Special Forces group, and I'm sure you've noticed that you're all pure Hylian. In this world of rounded ears, we still have pointed ears. This means that we can use a limited amount of magic. So, " Link drew the Master Sword from it's scabbard on his back and laid it on the table, "we are going to give you all swords, and then Aria is going to split the power of the Master Sword into all of your swords. So, if the creatures get close we can slaughter them with these instead of relying on our guns. However, we are going to have something special to our bullets, too. Aria, can you explain it to them?"

"Yeah. In ancient times, the first Bearer of the Triforce of Wisdom, my ancestor Zelda, gave the first Hero of Time a special magic arrow that could hurt the magical creatures that Ganondorf created. Now, we are not using bows. Since I have the Triforce of Wisdom, I am going to harness the power of the light arrow into our bullets." Aria explained. 

"The last thing I have to tell you is the plan for ending this war." Link said. "In order to defeat Ganondorf, we have to get him when he's paralyzed. Aria doesn't have enough power to hold him down, so we have to find seven people that are called Sages. They have the power of the ancient protectors of Hyrule. We have to 'awaken' these people so that when we find Ganondorf they can stun him, and we can kill him. When he dies, all the uglies are supposed to burn up and die. If they don't, we'll slaughter them while the death of their leader is still fresh on their minds."

He paused to let them absorb this new information. 

"We got lucky, cause the sages are here with us. All of you are the sages. All of you except Von, Hanec, Santago, and Kose are sages. Vegas is the Fire sage, Connely is the Spirit sage, Tomilson is the Light sage, Moran is the Forest sage, Romero is the Shadow sage, and Sanchez is the Water sage. Aria is the 'Princess of Destiny', so she is also a sage."

They all just looked like someone had punched them in the face. Silence descended upon the cafeteria as the team thought about this new turn of events. Link had predicted their reactions, but he didn't think they would take it so well. Now, they were staring at him with looks that said: _Let's go kick some ass. _

"Get some sleep, tomorrow we train. And I go lightly on no man......or woman." he added with a chuckle. Soon, the team erupted in laughter as they all left to go to their houses on the base.

Woo. That was a long one. Well, as always, REVIEW!! I have only a few reviews right now. Next chapter there will be romance.


	5. The Right Stuff

Link was currently in General Garrison's office, waiting for the General to finish with a phone call. 

"Yes, " the general said into the receiver, " yes, it was a successful mission. Yeah, he's here. Yes, he's in one piece sir. Just a moment Mr. President, I'll put him on speaker."

__

Mr. President? Fuck, he wants to talk to me. Link's mind raced, thinking of anything that he could have done wrong, when Garrison's voice knocked him out of his trance. 

"Okay, Link. The president wants to have a word with you. Mr. President, he's on."

"Hello sir." Link said hesitantly.

"Hello, Hero of Time." A deep voice said on the other end of the line. _Does everyone know who I am? _Link thought. "I hope you're up to an assignment." 

"What would you have in mind?" Link asked skeptically.

"I was the one who organized all the sages into one group. They are the best of the best. There aren't any soldiers on Earth better than them."

"Yeah, they've clearly shown me that." Link said with a chuckle. He was suddenly reminded of when his snipers had shot four shots in the diameter of a penny at five hundred yards.

"Well, we need to end this war within six months. The Pentagon is losing its will to fight, and our friends in Europe aren't doing too well either. We need to clear our country so we can start rebuilding and support Europe."

"Sir, you can't put a time limit on a war. What happens is inevitable, and you can't perfectly predict what these things are going to do. This Ganondorf guy has two thousand year's experience in the art of war, and we can't underestimate him." Link said matter-of-factly.

"I'm not saying you have to, I'm saying that their has to be substantial progress in six months, progress that foreshadows the end of the war in Hyrule." 

"Alright. Well, can you give me any information that I don't already know about these things."

Link was pretty sure he knew everything, so he was just trying to get a feel for how the Chief of the Armed Forces thought.

"No, sorry, you have all the available information about them. Enough of this subject, I want you to be out there in a week or less. Good-bye." The President hung up immediately. He had sounded annoyed at the topic of conversation. Link began to wonder if he had anything to hide.

"Link!" General Garrison's voice snapped him out of his thoughts. "I need an evaluation on your team. Do you like them? Can you cooperate with them? Can they cooperate with each other? I need to know what you guys are thinking."

Link sighed, and absent-mindedly began rubbing the coarse hairs that had grown on his chin.

"They can sure cooperate with each other, but I don't know if I can fully cooperate with them. We'll find that out when we leave. They sure know what they're doing, though, and they can do their jobs without question. However, we have a different enemy than normal wars, so we need to compensate for that."

"Don't sweet talk me, Colonel." the General grinned. "I know what you want. You think that because you are the best, that you can get any piece of equipment in the world. Well, you are correct. You name it, it will be here in a matter of hours." The General picked up the phone.

"Well? What does your team need?" the General dialed a number. "Yeah, Bob, I have a team of SEALS down here that need some equipment. Link, " the General said, looking in Link's direction.

Link pulled a small notebook from his pocket, and proceeded to tell the General everything that the team had discussed a few hours ago.

"We need a stronger caliber to fight these guys effectively. So, we need all our current weapons in the .308 Winchester. This request is from our snipers. Lugging around a forty-pound rifle all day isn't their idea of fun or excersize, so they want .300 Magnum. Armor piercing if you can." Link paused, making sure the guy got all this stuff written down. 

"Also, we're going to need vehicles to get around in. So, we want two diesel Hummvees with all the possible modifications. I'm saying Nitrous Oxide, snorkels for intake and exhaust, and an extra four inches off the ground. I want these things to be able to drive up the damn Mississippi. You getting all this?" Link said with raised eyebrows. He waited for a response from the person on the other end.

"Yes sir." The voice said after a few seconds of silence.

"The .308 guns are gonna have to wait a day, and the Hummers should be there by tomorrow morning. However, everything else will be shipped to you by tomorrow morning." Bob sounded a little guilty about this, so Link tried to ease the tension.

"Well, don't kill yourself over it, take your time. Thanks, buddy." With that, Garrison hung up the phone and Link sat back in the chair, exhaling sharply.

"I sure hope all this makes a difference. Now, how are you going to contact us when we are in the base?"

"We are going to use an encryption system that was left by the evacuating forces......."

The conversation continued on into the long hours of the night, and the two went over every possible detail of the operation.

Link was rudely awakened the next morning by a loud knock on the door of the barracks. He got up, and, murmuring to himself, got on some pants and answered the persistent knock.

Upon opening the door, he saw almost all of his team outside examining a new black Hummer, complete with .50 cal.

Link's face immediately brightened, and he took the letter from Vegas's hands. _I only sent you one of them so that you could try it and let me know what you think. At your command, the other Hummer will be sent there._

Bob

Link stuffed the letter in his pocket and walked over to the beautiful machine in front of him. 

Sanchez was manning the gun on top, and smiled when Link approached.

"It's about time, " she smirked and hopped from the roof of the vehicle to the ground, landing next to Link, "we were beginning to think you weren't going to wake up." she said, putting on a fake worried glance. A few chuckles from the team followed.

Link gave her a blank look. "I wanted to make sure you got your beauty sleep, princess." Link smiled, and ran his hand along the side of the car. "Romero, let's have a look at the engine." Link said to the burly man. Sanchez humphed and walked towards the driver's door muttering something about boys and their toys. 

Sanchez pulled the hood release, and Romero propped it open. He whistled, and started to make sure everything was firmly in place.

"We have the two snorkels for intake and exhaust, a turbo supercharger, nitrous injection," he glanced at the suspension underneath, "and the extra suspension. Wow. This thing better drive how it looks."

"Shall we?" Link gestured towards the entrance of the base. The team laughed and everyone piled in the vehicle that could fit. 

They were well on their way to the ruins of downtown Omaha when Link stopped the Hummer and got out. Romero, Sanchez, Vegas, and Moran followed.

"What gives, chief?" Vegas asked with a puzzled look.

"We are going to test this thing in the environment it was built for. We're going to push it past it's limit, and then we'll make any changes we see fit." 

They all seemed to agree, so the five Ghosts got back in the Hummer and Link put in the clutch and turned the keys.

"Sanchez, since you seem so fond of the fifty caliber, you can be the permanent gunner for this vehicle." Sanchez currently had an arm over the weapon, and when she heard what he said she smiled and cycled the weapon twice, arming it. 

With that, Link started off down the street. He pushed down the pedal, and when the rpm's red-lined, he put the clutch in and out, simultaneously shifting to one of the vehicles six gears. They were doing about seventy-five when Link took a corner, fish tailing the vehicle. 

The vehicle's occupants lurched to one side, the tires sticking to the pavement like ants on a log. "Still holding on back there Lita?" He yelled back over the roar of the diesel. 

Suddenly, a tank appeared from around a corner. It was rolling down the street at top speed, the treads screeching loudly on the paved street. I appeared to be an M1 Abrams, so it was friendly. 

Link stopped where a stoplight would have been and allowed the tank to pull up to the right of him. The driver's head popped out. The guy appeared to be in his mid-twenties, with blonde hair.

"Hey, aren't you going' a little fast for a Hummer?" the guy asked Link.

"This thing's been custom made for special operations. She's a beast of a car." Link grinned at the Abrams driver. The driver revved the engine of the tank, challenging Link to a race. 

Link grinned and responded by revving the fifteen-liter diesel engine. The Abrams driver disappeared back into the tank, and when Lita shot into the air with the fifty, the two behemoths screeched from their places. Link became a machine. When the engine peaked, he put the clutch in and out, shifting. The two were head-to-head, doing eighty miles an hour. Link looked over and saw the Abrams driver with his eyes poking out the top of the chamber within the tank.

Link flipped a switch where the radio would have been, and a red light that said _NOS_ turned on. He waved good-bye to the Abrams driver, and pushed a small button on the steering wheel. The entire vehicle gave a violent lurch, and then it surged forward, the noise of the engine heightening the 'high' Link was experiencing. 

They could no longer see the Abrams, the silhouette of the tank having disappeared behind them. Link performed a 180-degree turn, and after shifting down to third, he headed back to base. 

When they arrived, Link cut the engine and just sat there for a minute. Sanchez's voice broke the silence. "Well, I like it." Everyone laughed at that, and they filed out, heading towards the team's barracks. Upon entering the barracks, they were met with the millions of questions of those left behind.

The five of them had been asked countless questions, and after what seemed like an eternity, the questions stopped, and silence and boredom had ensued the barracks.

Link and Vegas were playing cards. The two had grown quite fond, and have been friends since the arm wrestling match. "Aha!" Link laid down his cards. "Straight flush. Hand over the cash, buddy." 

"Dammit. That's the third time this week." Vegas began to fish money out of his pocket.

"Is that all you guys do all day?" Aria asked after hearing Link announce his victory. 

"What would you have in mind, genius?" Link asked. Aria eyed his chest, his six pack of abs and toned muscles lighting her hormones on fire. Link noticed where she began looking and he got a wry smile.

"Well, I'm going to take a tour of this base. Anyone want to join me?" he asked, glancing hopefully at Aria. "Sure." she got up and went with him. They were walking along the inside perimeter of the base, near the ammunition depot. 

"So..." Link began putting an arm around her shoulders. "Shh. Don't talk. Just kiss me." Before he realized what was happening, their mouths were locked in a deeply passionate kiss. All Link's suppressed feelings came to life at that moment, and he slid his tongue into her mouth, and she gave a moan of pleasure. 

Then they began giving short, fiery kisses, until finally they broke apart. "Woah." was all Link managed to say. The bond between them at that moment was indescribable. They continued walking along, with Link's arm around her shoulders again. It was good to feel his comforting presence. They continued on along the perimeter, just enjoying each other's company. 

When the pair finally reached the barracks, Link had to depart to get the final plans for their deployment. When she walked in, Sanchez greeted her. 

"Hey, I thought we were going to run laps." She said a little disappointed. "Why not right now?" Aria suggested. "Alright, sure." 

When they were both ready, they started their daily laps around the base. 

"What!?" Ganondorf barked at the Moblin in front of him. The Moblins he had found from the spawning pits he had formed were very unique. They had formed blades on their left arms for close combat, much better than a stick with a sharp rock on the end. They had hard shell type skin, which would have made it very difficult to slash them with a sword.

The Moblin in front of him was currently cringing in fear, obviously intimidated by Ganondorf's stare. He had already fried to death the Moblin who was responsible for the escape of all seven sages. "Sorry, sir." it said in it's scratchy demon voice. "We didn't know where or when the boy would appear. It was impossible even for you to predict when the Hero of Time would wake up." 

There was truth in what the creature had said, and this was the first time that his trusted adviser had failed him. He decided to let this pass, but not without a scolding. It might boost his army's confidence to know he wouldn't kill every one of the Moblins that gave him bad news. 

Saddam Hussein had made the same mistake. He killed every person that gave him bad news. So, in fear of punishment or death, his Generals never told him what was going on. Everything he had done in any war was based on bad intelligence.

"Yes, I suppose you are right, but you must make sure he does not escape alive again. If we are to proceed with the master plan, the Hero of Time from this realm must die." 

The Moblin appeared to seem relieved, and his expression became one of determination. 

"It shall not happen again, my Lord." The moblin bowed, turned, and walked away.

With that, Ganondorf turned to the magical display of his infantry general. The general was the only General of his that had been there since Ganondorf had first invaded seven years ago. "How's things, General?" Ganondorf asked, with an amused expression on his face. 

"They have pushed us back about a hundred miles again, and we have reason to believe that they are waiting for reinforcements. They haven't been attacking with as much spirit lately. I need reinforcements soon, or they could make a push straight to the Colorado mountains, and from there they could make a push to your base in Uma, Arizona." 

"Yes, but from what my sources told me, they think that my main base is in Germany." Ganondorf told the General.

"Yes, but remember that their officers probably use encrypted frequencies. We can only monitor the small talk between their troops, hoping one of them will slip up and say something important. Even so, I don't think our lines can hold back a full scale invasion."

"Yes, you will have reinforcements by the end of the month." Ganondorf said.

"Yes, sir. Marich out." General Marich's face disappeared from the air, and Ganondorf began making plans to torture the Princess to death.

Link walked into the ammunition depot at 0600 hours to find that boxes labeled .308 covered a third of the warehouse. Link was really starting to like this Bob fellow. The man had delivered everything Link had asked, the Hummvee had arrived last night. At that moment, a bearded, burly man walked up to Link. 

"Are you the Commanding officer of the new squad of Specials here?" Specials was the term they used for Special Forces teams.

"Yeah." Link said. "Those .308 boxes mine?" 

The man glanced back at the tower of boxes. "Yeah. Took us all night to unload the C-130 carrying the stuff." The man said with a grin. "By the way, name's Bryan Williams." Bryan offered his hand, and Link shook it, smiling back at the man. "Thanks for letting me know."

"Hey, by chance," Bryan lowered his voice to a whisper so that no one would hear, "are you the leader of that new super-team that the officers have been talking about almost non-stop?"

"Yeah, that's me. How does everyone know who I am? Has the enemy been putting up flyers or something?" 

"The Hero of Time was made public years ago, about a year after the invasion. Since then, the entire world has set their hopes on the mysterious legend. Don't worry, only about fifty people now you and your team exist." 

"That's too many if you ask me." Link said with a frown. 

"Yeah, I know what you mean. Hey, if you ever need anything like guns, ammo, or explosive devices of any kind, I'm your man." Bryan said smiling.

"Alright, thanks. Well, I need you to pack about half of this ammo onto flatbed trucks. Can you do that for me?" Link asked, as if the guy had any choice. 

"You got it, buddy." With that the man walked away, and Link began to fill his Hummer with boxes of the ammo to test their new guns with. He drove back to the barracks, and walked inside. Everyone was talking to one another. It seems his team had gotten completely used to each other.

"Alright, people, listen up!" Everyone stopped what they were doing and gave their full attention to the person who had just walked through the door.

"Our new guns are here, and they're assembled and ready for us at the range." He could see a few of them get excited at the thought of getting to shoot something. Some looked relieved to just be leaving the barracks. 

They piled in the two black Hummvees that were delivered to them the previous day, and drove to the firing range. When they arrived, the troops excitedly went inside the armory to see their weapons. The armory itself was a large, camouflage building. To the side was a seventy-five foot long range. It had individual spaces so the shooters knew which target to aim at down range. The targets were papers attached to cardboard about a foot in diameter.

Upon entering the armory, he saw that every team member was admiring his or her new weapons.

Hanec and Sanchez were especially ecstatic with their weapons. They were holding painted camouflage rifles with pistol grips. The magazine was capable of holding thirty .300 Magnum rounds, which was almost unheard of. It had a 25x120 scope, allowing them to shoot the flea off of a horse at three hundred yards. The rifles had adjustable stocks, and both were semi-automatic to reduce recoil and increase rate of fire. The rifles were forty-eight inches from butt to muzzle, which was perfect for any distance of fire. The scopes automatically compensated for distance and windage too.

Vegas and Romero were extremely impressed with their new machine guns. They were the same as the M249 SAW, except that they had ten more rounds in the tub, and they had weights attached to the barrel to reduce recoil. They were also painted camouflage. The weight and feel of the rifle would take some getting used to.

The new M4's were also virtually the same as the 5.56mm model. The difference was the round they used, and also that all of them was equipped with 203 anti personnel grenades and laser sights. There were also attachable NVG's that allowed them to see in the dark.

The team were all laughing and joking with each other until Kose brought up a good point.

"Hey, Sergeant," Link was recently promoted to Sergeant, "where's the ammo?" The entire room grew silent and stared at Link.

"It's in the Hummer. Squad one, come with me and unload the ammo, squad two set up the range for us to use. They all scrambled to do what their leader had told them.

Squad one got all the ammo unloaded, and after splitting it up, they guessed everyone had about five hundred rounds. The snipers only had about two hundred rounds because the armory was running low on .300 Magnum.

Sanchez and Hanec had their rifles adjusted to fit them perfectly, and were waiting for the order to load. Finally, Link shouted, "Ladies and Gentlemen, load your weapons." A series of clicks and snaps followed, and after a minute or two, the place was silent. 

"Fire at will!" Instantly, the range was engulfed with the sound of gunfire. Vegas had started with a long burst of full automatic. His weapon responded by churning out fifty rounds in ten seconds. He was amazed at the performance and accuracy of the weapon. His grouping was perfect, all the shots hitting within the diameter of a basketball, which was extremely good for a SAW. There was almost no recoil, and the barrel didn't jump around when he fired. He began to take short bursts, taking out every target that was in his vision.

Von's M4 was absolutely wonderful. Von was the weapons expert of the team, so he knew all the different statistics for the .308. His weapon hardly had any recoil, it was like having .223 Remington. He tried the laser sight, and found it to be zeroed in to the millimeter. He loaded another forty round magazine and continued to squeeze off rounds. Even without recoil, the seasoned elk hunter could feel the power and velocity of the weapon. He decided to start shooting faster, and pull off rounds quicker. He was amazed! It only affected his aim a few inches at the most! He smiled, and glanced over at Link. 

Link saw that Von was looking at him, and looked over. Von gave him thumbs up, and continued shooting. Link smiled to himself, and looked around at everyone. They seemed to be enjoying themselves. 

Hanec was thoroughly falling in love with this rifle. It didn't have the feel of raw power like the Barrett, but it was still extremely powerful. He squeezed off another round into the target and saw the forehead splinter to pieces. Whenever he adjusted the scope, the distance would appear by the crosshairs, and then it would automatically adjust to the distance and windage. He was going to have fun with this rifle. 

Marshal Moretti was standing in Ganondorf's main headquarters. There were Moblins all over in the room, operating various equipment. He was the only Human in Ganondorf's entire hierarchy. He was the most respected General in the world besides General Garrison. Moretti had kept the Hylians from interfering with most of the foreign operations. Moretti was in the Sacred Realm when the unknown entity had opened it. Ganondorf recognized his military skill, and offered Moretti a place at his right side. Ganondorf had always respected Moretti, and knew that whatever happened, Moretti would take care of it.

When Ganondorf walked in, Moretti stood at attention, and waited for Ganondorf to acknowledge him. He noticed the look of worry flash across the Gerudo's face for a second. Usually, Moretti didn't talk to Ganondorf unless something went wrong, and Moretti needed something.

"At ease." Ganondorf muttered.

"My Lord, you must relax. I bring no bad news." Ganondorf's expression softened a bit. "However, I believe there is a good chance that we may be able to strike at the Hero of Time." Ganondorf raised an eyebrow. "Go on."

"I have been using my abilities to monitor their encrypted frequencies. I am under the influence that the Hero of Time and a team of Special Forces are going to be housed behind our lines, near the old Offut Air Force Base. If we can ambush them before they get there, we can perhaps capture the princess, and lure the Hero of Time here. It would be the perfect opportunity to do so."

Ganondorf seemed to consider this. "Yes, but I am not touching the princess. Last time I did that, the Hero of Time came at me harder than normal, because he had developed feelings for the princess. I am simply going to lure him to my compound here." 

"That is true, but I think we should at least destroy his team. Then, we cut off his supply route, so he can't make decisions with the help of others. Then we can lure him here without the Hylian army interfering." The General waited for a response from Ganondorf. The Gerudo had been thinking quietly for the last minute.

"Yes. That would be excellent. I knew there was a reason that I made you a Marshal. Now, on to other matters." Ganondorf approached a filing cabinet, and pulled out a large map of Hyrule. It covered a good half of the large tile floor. Ganondorf kneeled down, and so did the General.

"General Marich has been pushed back again. It was his own damn fault, he thinks just because there is an unlimited amount of Moblins that he can sit back and do nothing. So, he has been receded about two hundred miles so far all along the Midwest. Now, if he gets pushed back any more, he will go into full retreat through the Rocky Mountains. I know he will do this, and then the Hylians will carpet bomb the mountains, effectively leaving them with a straight route to the north or south. Then they will have the war won." Moretti nodded, and Ganondorf continued. 

"I want you to swing around from your position in Texas and start to reinforce right in front of the Rockies. Then, when the Hylians charge, slaughter them in an ambush." Ganondorf said in an evil smirk.

"What if they see I'm gone and launch an attack in Texas?" Moretti asked, worried.

"They most likely won't. You will leave when your guards shift duties, and you will be replaced with a relatively competent General. The enemy won't even notice you had gone. If they do attack," Ganondorf continued, "this General will hold them back long enough for you to return and provide support."

"Okay, sir. It shall be done." With that, Moretti walked out of Ganondorf's headquarters and disappeared around a corner.

A little romance, but not much. Who is this Moretti? You will have to review and find out!

Note: Is the SAW an M240 or M249? I keep getting those two mixed up. Please review and let me know.


	6. Into the Storm

It had been a few days, and the team was well accustomed with their new weapons. They had taken a short trip to Fort Katre in Vermont to practice in a training simulation. 

The scenario was quite complicated. They were to enter a skyscraper that had been abandoned of civilians, and they were supposed to clear the building and set up a sort forward command post. If they damaged the building or any equipment within the building, they failed the training scenario. 

It had gone relatively well. Connely had brought squad one in from service tunnels underneath the building using explosives. Kose had done something similar with squad two. They were inserted at the top of the building by helicopter, and Kose had blown the elevator doors with explosives, allowing access to any floor. 

Both teams had cleared every room except one without any casualties until they got to the bad guys' headquarters. There were actual people in here, not just paper targets. That means that they shot back.

Vegas had entered first, covering the right of the room. He immediately opened fire on anything that appeared to be a threat. He had brought down everyone on his side of the room, and yelled, "Clear!" Santago hadn't been as lucky, however. When he entered the room, he didn't get his shots off quick enough. He took a paintball to the chest, and one to the leg. Aria had come in and taken down the rest of them.

Currently, the team was having a pint of beer at the local bar, Grizzly's. 

"I'd like to make a toast," Link said, standing and holding up his glass,"to the success of the Ghosts." 

"Here, here!" Everyone responded, tapping their glasses together. 

"We did great out there today, people. We were estimated to lose at least a fourth of the team. But remember that if that was the real thing, one of us would be calling Justin's parents, explaining why he wouldn't be coming home for Christmas." That seemed to dull the mood quite a bit.

"But besides that, I am really proud of you guys. I was completely foreign to military life, and you helped me to get accustomed, and you treated me more like a friend than a commanding officer. For that I am truly grateful. Now, let's enjoy ourselves!"

It was now late into the night, and everyone had had a few pints. The team was currently looking at all the pictures of their family members.

"That's you when you were ten?" Romero asked, staring at a picture of Vegas. The picture portrayed a chubby black-haired kid with a grin that showed off his missing front teeth.

"Oh yeah, but look at me now!" Vegas stood up and lifted up the front of his shirt, exposing the toned muscles underneath. 

"Bright light, bright light!" Tomilson said in a squeaky high voice, shielding his eyes from Vegas's chest. The table erupted into laughter at this remark.

"So, what did you do before the war?" Romero asked Aria.

"I was a glamour model, I posed in all sorts of dresses. I might have a picture." Aria pulled her wallet out of her purse and fished around for a picture. She pulled out a picture and handed it to Romero. 

"Damn! You look sexy!" The team gathered around the picture, and the guys oohed and ahhed. The picture was of Aria in a tight black dress that extended to her ankles, and it had a cut up to her mid thighs on the side, showing a lot of leg. Her hair cascaded down he shoulders like a black waterfall. 

Aria's face grew a deep shade of red, and she smiled at all their expressions. Sanchez whistled when she saw it.

"Bet you made a bucket load off of that shoot." 

"Not really," Aria answered. "A few days after that shoot, the town was attacked by uglies, and I never got the paycheck."

"That sucks." Hanec said, sitting back in his seat.

Eventually, the party had receded, and only Link and Aria remained.

"So.." they both said at the same time. They laughed, and Link stood up.

"Come on, I'll walk you back." Link took her hand, and together they walked out of the bar, and started down the street.

"I can't wait till we get out to the front lines." Link said after they had walked a block.

"You really love what you do, don't you?" 

"Yeah. When I was sixteen, I was always bored with the career seminars and stuff. I finally realized what I wanted to do when the USMC came to our school. What they showed me and what they taught me made me feel alive. It made me feel like I had a purpose in life. That purpose was to save lives.

Then, when I tried the week of boot camp that they offered, I got higher scores in a week than most cadets get throughout the entire basic training. I knew that the military was my life."

They continued walking along in silence, basking in the others' presence. Finally, Aria broke the silence. 

"I've been working on my magic, and I can pick things up through an unseen force now. Kind of like the Jedi from Star Wars. It's awesome. What have you noticed you can do?"

"Well, during the simulation excersize, I noticed things, and heard things before any of the other team members. I could take my shots quicker and more accurately than all the other guys. I also started to dodge shots that were shot at me. The few rooms that people were in, I dodged every shot that was fired at me. I think some of the other guys started to get scared." Link said, looking at the ground with a worried expression. 

"Don't worry about it, they aren't very far behind you. Besides, every member of the team is slightly superhuman, whether they like it or not. They'll just have to get used to that."

"Tomorrow we're getting shipped behind the enemy's lines. I want to launch the first operation the same week. We need to find information from somewhere about Ganondorf. We can't be blind about where he is." Link said.

"Yeah, I agree. I'll try to locate a magic source near our location when we get there."

They had finally reached the base, and Link flashed his ID, so the guard let them in. When they reached the barracks, Link stopped Aria outside. "What is it, Link?" 

He pulled her close, and their lips intertwined in a deep kiss, and she returned it. They broke apart, and she stared into his eyes. "I have to find out when we can catch a plane tomorrow. I won't be long." He turned around and headed in the direction of the hangars. She sighed, and walked into the barracks and found her bunk. As soon as her head hit the pillow, she was out cold.

The team was woken up rudely at 5:00 a.m. by Link.

"Come on, ladies! Rise and shine! We have the first flight at six in the morning!" He heard a few groans from the people in the barracks. 

Slowly, the team members woke up, and got all their stuff packed up. They loaded the gear on the Hummers, and the team was heading towards the runway within forty-five minutes of waking up.

The team was completely silent on the way to the runway. This was partly because they were all tired from a long night, and partly because everyone had a massive hangover from the drinks they had consumed.

The vehicles stopped, and the team members got out, hefted their gear on their shoulders, and walked towards the hangar. There was a C-130 cargo plane waiting for them. They all got onto the plane, strapping themselves in the chairs. 

In a few minutes, Link and Tomilson drove the Hummers inside the belly of the plane a few moments later. The plane gave a lurch, and the behemoth taxied to the runway. 

In a few moments, the team was airborne, and was on their way to General Garrison's headquarters. 

When the plane touched down, Link and his team walked down the ramp of the plane, their headaches subdued and their minds fresh. General Garrison was waiting for them when they approached the main offices of the superiors. 

"Welcome back. I hear you did excellent on the drill." Garrison said as they stepped through the door. 

They were in room with a secretary at her desk. When they entered, she looked up. 

"Well, look whose back. Mr. Super Hero." she smiled and continued typing on her computer.

The team and Garrison continued walking down the winding hallways.

"Did you know that the drill you completed is the hardest scenario in the world. Only the Brits have completed that drill, and their SAS took over eighty percent casualties. You only lost one." Garrison said as he opened the door to the briefing room. Santago put on a mock guilty look at the mention of his 'death'.

The entire team felt proud at this news. Even though the team was somewhat superhuman, it made them happy to know they were the best.

Garrison motioned for the team to sit down, and they did so, setting their packs on the ground. 

"Now, I talked to the Pentagon about using the old SatCom base, and they said ok. However, they have no idea if the enemy has troops stationed at the base, or if they even know it exists. So, you are to use extreme caution when entering the base compound." 

The team exchanged grins, and Garrison cleared his throat. "I have intelligence reports that the enemy is getting reinforcements. Usually, their reinforcements come in huge waves of about a hundred thousand at a time." Garrison said. 

"Now, I requested light armor and AH-64 Apache gunships for the big jobs, but Washington in all her brilliance said no. So, all I can provide is little birds and Black Hawks for air cover."

Aria raised her hand. "Where is the base located at?" 

"It's downtown, in the region around the convention center." The team looked downcast at this news. The downtown sector was the most hostile region.

"I want you to be on your guard at all times. This war is on your shoulders." The General said. 

"There is another thing that the Pentagon wants you to do. They have an old wizard who is highly educated about the ancient world. This scholar's name is Moretti. He was in the Sacred Realm when Ganondorf was released, and got out. He is working for Ganondorf, and has provided us with some much-needed information about the creatures.

The creatures come from deep within the earth. They are born from magma, explaining the crusty skin. Now, he said they are born from a pit of magma that is exposed to the air. The only way they could get access to the magma would be to find a volcano. We believe that their spawning pits are in Mount Saint Helens. We need you to find the pit, and seal it off."

The General stopped to catch his breath, and he saw that the team was happy that they finally had a foothold in the enemy's movements.

"Can you provide us with any information about the creatures that would help us?" Hanec asked.

"Yes." He pulled a file from a stack of papers on the table,"they can't shoot all that well, but they have an advantage of numbers. They are called Moblins, and they travel in packs of fifty. Only one in every pack is capable of speech, and that's usually the leader. They communicate with each other telepathically, and they have a keen sense of smell." 

"Alright. About that spawning pit in Washington state," Link said, "how are we going to get there without getting detected?"

"Moretti will get you in. Any more questions? No. Good. Talk to you when you set up base."

They all walked out of the office building with blank expressions. They headed over to the armory to get suited up. As soon as they walked through the door, someone walked up to them with a big box. 

"I believe these are yours. They're special camouflage sheaths for your swords."

Link took the box without a word, and continued on towards the gear room. 

"Alright, people," Link said once they were in the room. "Get suited up, and grab a few MRE's on your way out. I don't know if we'll have food when we get there."

In a few moments, they were prepped and ready to rock. They followed Link out to the where the Hummvees were waiting for them. 

A technician walked up to them. "Okay, I've upgraded your vehicles so that they have a GPS system. Just program the coordinates of where you want to go, and follow the dot on the screen. The Hummers are fueled and packed with everything you'll need. Good luck, guys." The technician walked away, and the team split into squads and piled into the Hummers.

"Ya got me, Nightstalker?" Link asked Vegas, to make sure the radios worked.

"Copy that Banshee." Vegas responded. He started the vehicle, and waited for Link to go. In the passenger seat, Aria was programming the Offut base in the GPS. A small purple dot appeared at the edge of the screen.

"Alright, we have a visual, let's get moving." she said.

Link started off down the road, and through the gate.

Fifteen minutes later, they pulled off of the highway and headed down the road that would lead them to Offut.

Sanchez got behind the .50 of the second Hummer, and cycled the weapon twice, arming it. Von did the same for the first Hummer.

"Alright, Von, keep your eyes open." Link said as they drove through the destroyed entrance to the base. The purple dot was right by the dot that resembled the team, so Link stopped and peered around for any sign of an underground base. That was when he noticed movement out of the corner of his eye. 

The truck full of Moblins screeched around the corner, and no sooner had Moblins started piling out than Von started chewing up their ranks with the .50.

"Ambush! Set up a perimeter!" Link yelled. But the rest of his team was already on it. They were out of the Hummer, weapons shouldered, dishing out rounds, frantically trying to hold off the advancing Moblins.

Sanchez turned to see another three trucks round the corner, and she let loose a long burst of her machine gun. One of the trucks erupted into flames, all the Moblins inside blown to pieces. Then the trucks got the attention of Vegas.

Vegas opened up on the Moblins, and turned to the source of an explosion to his left. A truck had erupted into flames, and Moblins got out of the other two. He aimed in their direction and shot a good number of them with short bursts from his SAW. He turned back to his right in time to see a rocket propelled grenade flying towards him. He jumped out of the way, and the projectile flew straight into the last of the three trucks, blasting it in half.

Link was lying on the ground, taking shots at the moblins who were ducking behind cars in the parking lot. Link's blood ran cold when he saw a tank come up over the hill, beyond the parking lot. There was a flash from its main gun, and a few cars flew from their places, a large hole through their side.

"Shit! We've got tanks at six o'clock." Link said.

"We don't have the firepower to take that thing on, get back in the Hummers, let's get the hell outta here!" Moran said. 

Link nodded, and the team ran back to the Hummers. When Link started forward, the spot where the vehicle was parked was a smoking hole.

Link gulped and put the pedal down. A group of Moblins didn't get out of his way in time, and they were smacked out of the way by the speeding vehicle. Some of the troops were shooting out of the windows, trying to take as many down as possible. 

Romero narrowly missed running into another truck full of Moblins when it stopped in front of him. He slammed on the brakes, and Sanchez was thrown from the vehicle. Romero didn't notice, and drove around the truck.

Lita tried to yell, tried to tell Romero to stop, but her voice failed her, and soon squad two's Hummer disappeared around a building. Lita tried to stand, but her body erupted in pain, and she gasped and fell back down. She saw the Moblins begin to close in around her, and the last thing she remembered before darkness consumed her vision was a man walking up to her and hitting her with the butt of a pistol.

The man had long red hair.

It was a little short, but I don't have many reviews, so I don't know if I should continue.....

So please review. 


	7. The Underground

"Shit!" Link yelled, slamming his fist on the hood of the Hummer. They had stopped as soon as Aria had discovered Sanchez had been missing. The team was huddled around the hood of Link's Hummer, and there was a map sprawled on the hood. 

"How did you lose her?" Link asked Romero. Romero looked down sullenly.

"I didn't notice she fell off." Romero murmured. He walked off and started to reload the .50 caliber gun. Link walked over to him. "Hey, it wasn't your fault. If you had stopped, they probably would have gotten the rest of the people in the vehicle." Link said, putting his hand on Romero's shoulder.

Romero stopped putting a new belt in the receiver and looked at Link. He regarded his leader's thoughts for a moment, and sighed. "Yeah, I guess." He said quietly.

He walked back over to the group. They were arguing loudly amongst themselves.

"You should have known she would fall off!"

"I wasn't driving!"

"Who knows what they're doing to her because of you!"

"HEY!!" Link yelled, stopping all arguments between the team.

"I don't give a damn whose fault it was, we'll deal with that later," Link said, looking around at the team. "You're acting like little five year olds instead of Ghosts! Look, " he said in a hard tone, "we've got a team member, no- a friend, out there depending on us for rescue. We need to get her back. We can't kill Ganondorf without her help." 

The team started to gather their weapons. "Alright," Vegas said when the team had returned to looking at the map. "The moblins stopped chasing us about here." He said, pointing to a highlighted section of the map.

"I think they knew we were going to be here. There is no way they could have responded to our presence with that many troops that quickly. So, I think we need to find out how much they know about us." There were murmured agreements between members.

"Yeah. However," Moran said, pointing to a part of the map that was also highlighted. "I remember that Rom had to stop suddenly when a Moblin truck pulled in front of him. Is it possible that she could have fallen off when he braked?" 

"That's right," Aria cut in,"and about five minutes later, I noticed she was gone. I think we should formulate a plan to search the area." She said, looking around.

She didn't receive any argument, so she continued," Now, I'll take Squad Two and search for Aria."

"And I'll take Squad One and secure the underground base." Link said, having returned to the group after talking to Rom.

"Alright, let's move out!" Link yelled to the team. As Aria was approaching Squad Two's Hummer, she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned around and saw Link looking at her sadly. 

"Be careful out there. If anything happened to you......" Link said. "I know. Don't worry, I'll be fine." Link nodded, and a honk from Squad One's Hummer drew his attention. 

"Yeah, I'm coming." He breathed as he jogged off towards the vehicle. He got into the passenger seat, and set the GPS to the location of the base.

"Alright, Rom, let's ride." Link said, chambering a round on his M4.

They pulled onto the main highway, and when they came to the base's intersection, the two Hummers split up.

Link motioned for Rom to stop, and Link got out, followed by the rest of the Squad. They were back at the parking lot where they had been ambushed just minutes before. Bullet casings and dead Moblins littered the paved ground. A glimmer to his right got his attention. 

There was a rifle lying there. Lita's rifle. Link walked over and picked it up. A sigh escaped his lips, and he brought the gun over to the Squad. "Oh, shit." Connely said as Link sulked up to them.

"My first assignment, and I've already lost one. My first day." Link said quietly. He had started to feel confident in his leadership qualities. He had felt that he could lead these men to victory. Now he wasn't so sure. Link felt a tear roll down his cheek. He quickly wiped i5t away, and looked into the eyes of his men. 

"If they've done anything to her, I swear I'll kick their asses so hard all their relatives will feel it." Link said between gritted teeth.

"Link, we all feel the same way, but we have to get that out of our minds. We need to secure the base." Tomilson said, putting a hand on Link's shoulder.

Link shook his head to clear his thoughts, and started thinking how to get inside.

__

If I wanted to hide something, what would be the best way to hide it? Link asked himself. He looked around, and spotted a sign that said 'SatCom entrance'. _Bingo._

"Alright, let's move to that building. Keep your eyes open, shoot first, ask questions later." He began to move towards the building, weaving in between cars. When he was roughly a hundred feet from the building, he motioned for the Squad to stop. Everyone kneeled down and scanned the perimeter.

"Hanec, I need you to go thermal and see if there's anything moving inside, over." Link said. 

"Copy that, going thermal, over." Hanec flipped a switch on his scope, and a high pitched humming sound emanated from the scope. He peered through, and was nearly blinded by the setting sun. "Fuck." He cursed, looking away from the building, blinking a few times.

"Link, I can't see shit. The sun's in my eyes. I'll have to move to a different position, over." 

"Copy that, watch your six, over." Silence permeated the air for the next few moments, while Link waited for Hanec to report. Link could have just busted in heads first, but he wanted to go quietly and with as few casualties as possible.

Hanec was peering through the scope, waiting for a visual inside the building. When he had a clear view of the inside of the building, he scanned the floors for any shapes that were giving off heat. Upon finding none, he radioed Link. "Nothing is moving inside, sir. It's totally deserted from what I can see, over." 

"Let's move out, over." Link said. He shouldered his rifle, and stalked forward, ready for something to pop out and ambush them. They reached the front building, and Link motioned to Austin Connely to see if there was anything in there. Connely slid under the vision of the windows, and poked his head up. He briefly scanned the room. 

It was a small room, there was a metal detector that still had blinking lights on it, and there was a reception desk right next to that. A hallway led past the metal detector, and Connely gave Link a thumbs up. 

Link pointed to Rom and Von, and pointed to the opposite side of the building. They nodded, and crawled the same way Connely did under the view of the windows and stood at the other side of the door. Link nodded, and they busted in, and made sure nothing was in there.

"Clear." 

"Clear." 

Link and the rest of the team entered and went to the metal detector. Link examined it, and tried to find some way they could pass through without making any noise. He saw a gap in between the ceiling and the top of the device. He slid his weapon on top of the metal detector while walking through.

The machine stayed silent.

Link breathed a sigh of relief, and waved the rest of the Squad forward. They rushed through, and took a position across the hall, pointing down the hall. Link and Tomilson walked slowly down the hall, their weapons shouldered. Adrenaline pumped through them, and they simultaneously kicked open a door. There was a series of doors down the hallway that they had to clear.

They cleared all the rooms in a few minutes, going in teams of two. When Von and Rom cleared the last room, they came to a staircase. It read "Welcome to SatCom." Link proceeded down the stairs, with Hanec covering the rear. 

Link was about halfway down the long staircase, when a step cracked underneath his foot. He started to fall through, but a huge hand grabbed Link's and single-handedly pulled him up.

Link sat on the stairs, bewildered by what had just happened. There was a large groaning sound, and the rest of the stairs collapsed, falling down the pit, and landing with a large crash. Link gulped.

"So much for the quiet entrance." He sighed.

"Great." Tomilson said sourly, "We'll have to find another entrance." He started back up the stairs, and the Squad started to follow him. 

Link stood, and started to follow Tomilson, but something stopped him. He turned to find the source, and saw that one of his backpack's straps was caught in the railing. This gave him an idea.

"Maybe we won't need to find another way." Link said up to Tomilson. They all turned to see Link wrap a rope around the railing. He let the rope dangle down the shaft, and he grabbed it.

"We can slide down." H said with a smirk. Everyone chuckled, and Link slid down the rope. 

He landed at the bottom with a thud, and looked around for the door into SatCom. He spotted it hiding underneath the wreckage, and lifted the piece of the stairs off. 

Von slid down next to Link, and armed his weapon again. The rest did the same, and then Rom and Tomilson busted through the door, followed by Link, Hanec, and Von. 

What they saw shocked them. 

The Moblins most definitely knew the place existed. Dead bodies were strewn all across the small room, and the two feet thick steel door was lying on the floor, having been blown off its hinges. The room was covered in blood, and there were a few bodies of Moblins lying on the ground. 

"What the hell happened here?" Tomilson wondered aloud.

"Smells like a bad night of beans." Connely said, waving his hand in front of his face.

The Squad remained silent, despite Austin's joke. Link and Tomilson started to walk down past the blown-up door, and checked down the hallway.

"The lights are still on, there must be someone home." Link said.

"Yeah, and you'd think they would have had a guard or something. There weren't any bullet holes or signs of conflict upstairs. It doesn't make sense." Tomilson said as they walked down the corridor, weapons shouldered.

The rest of the Squad began to follow, and stopped at a large door that read "JOC". 

Link motioned to Von for the reading on the motion sensor, and Von responded by holding up his fingers to his head in the form of a handgun. That meant that going in the room would be suicide.

"Shit." Link cursed, thinking of some way to get in without mass casualties. Link tapped the side of his head. Von held up three fingers, and made a zero with his hand. Then he made a plus sign with his fingers. 

__

More than thirty bandits? Damn, we're going to need explosives. Link gestured Connely to his position. 

"Sir?" Connely addressed Link in a whisper. Von was watching the motion sensor again, ready to alert the team if any of the Moblins in the next room approached their position. 

"We need to get inside, but we need to do it quietly. So, I need you to go inside and flash bang their asses. Then we'll come in and blast them. Got it?" Link said.

"Yeah, I'll open the door while they aren't looking and toss flash bangs in there." Connely moved right next to the door, and looked through the little space under the door. 

He motioned Rom over. 

"You want some cover?" Rom asked before Connely had a chance to explain.

"Yeah, I need you to open this door when I tell you to, and don't let it close." 

"Don't let it close?" Rom asked skeptically.

"Yeah, the noise might alert them, and I'll move too quick for them to notice it's open." Connely explained.

Rom nodded, and Connely looked under the door, waiting for the right opportunity. 

After a few minutes, Connely waved his hand, and Rom swiftly opened the door. Connely hurried behind a large computer mainframe, being careful not to make any noise. 

The room was probably the monitoring room for the entire facility, as there were numerous TV's with cameras feeding them info on the main sections of the building. There was a whole mess of chairs and bodies scattered around, bloodied from being torn up by the Moblins' invasion. 

Connely noticed a Moblin asleep in front of a whole setup of monitors displaying various hallways. One of the monitors displayed the staircase that had collapsed on the Squad. Connely noted to let Link know about that.

He suddenly remembered what he was supposed to do, and pulled two flash bangs from pockets on his vest. He pulled the pins and released the clutches. After three seconds, he rolled the bangs down separate paths, and turned away, closing his eyes and plugging his ears.

A deafening boom resounded, with a blinding flash, stunning all the Moblins. Rom was the first to bust in, his SAW mowing through the scores of stunned moblins.

Link and Von were next, picking off targets. Link had just dispatched a moblin when he noticed a door across the room open, and moblins began pouring in the room, shooting in all directions. 

Link took two down, and ducked for cover as 7.62x39mm bullets whizzed past his head. 

"Bandits, twelve o'clock!" He shouted amongst the gunfire. He pointed his weapon towards the barricades the moblins had made, and took three quick shots at a moblin who poked his head up. The thing's head exploded in a flurry of red blood, and it's friends sprayed link's position with bullets, angered by their comrade's death. 

"Grenade!" Romero yelled, flinging a grenade across the room. He ducked for cover as the grenade detonated, shrapnel ripping through the ranks of moblins. However, more of the creatures replaced their comrades, shooting in Romero' direction. 

He popped up from his position, ignoring the bullets whizzing past his head, and let go a long burst of 5.56mm into the moblins behind the overturned desks. 

The creatures didn't have time to comprehend what had happened, as they were ripped apart by Rom's accurate fire. A resounding boom echoed through the room, and Rom looked over to see Hanec with his powerful rifle smoking as he picked another target. He squeezed off a round into the moblin's midsection, and the creature was severed into two halves. 

Hanec ducked to load another magazine, and saw Rom jump across the sea of oncoming bullets and land right next to him. 

"What's up?" Hanec asked, smiling.

"Oh, there are just a hundred freaky things after my hide, nothing new." Rom said, returning his friend's smile. 

Rom pressed the talk button on his radio, and got Link's attention.

"Link, we're going to need to take care of some of these guys quick, or we're going to get overwhelmed. Shit! Connely is in trouble at nine o'clock!" 

Connely was leaning over the limp body of Josh Von, and he didn't notice the moblins sneaking up on him from behind. 

"Austin! Heads up!" Rom shouted at his teammate. Connely drew his Desert Eagle, and turned to the moblins. At that moment, they pounced, landing on a pissed off Connely. He blew the leg off of one of the creatures, the .50AE bullet ripping clean through the shell and bone. Connely had no time to retaliate against the other one, as the creature stabbed through the shoulder of his gun arm, disabling his ability to retaliate.

Rom had seen the moblins pounce, and raised his SAW to shoot them off, and pulled the trigger, only to have his gun click empty. 

"Shit! Hanec, Connely needs help!" 

Hanec looked over at Connely, and saw the moblin raise its blade to slice Connely's throat. 

Hanec raised his rifle, and squeezed off a round in the moblin's direction. The creature's hand blew off upon impact with the .300 Magnum bullet.

It screamed in rage, and turned to Hanec. This allowed Connely enough time to draw his sword from its sheath on his back. He screamed a battle cry, and swung the magically enhanced sword at the moblin, cleaving it in two. The two halves of the creature collapsed on the floor, and burnt up into a fine dust. 

Connely watched with fascination as the corpse burned and blew away into the air. Then he realized the way to defeat them.

Ignoring the growing pain in his body, Connely got Link on the radio.

"Link! Our swords! We have to use our swords! It's the only way to take them all, we don't have much ammo left!" He shouted as Hanec's rifle clicked empty. 

"Shit, that was my last mag." Hanec said, drawing his sword and slashing any moblin that got close.

Link was starting to run low on ammo, so he decided to try Connely's suggestion.

He pulled the Master Sword from its sheath and stared at it for a moment. He was holding time itself in his hands. This was something the Goddesses had created. It had the power to kill anything in its path. Link noticed that it was as light as a feather to him. He was jarred out of his thoughts by a moblin that had screamed in rage right next to him.

In the blink of an eye, Link's sword was piercing the skull of the moblin, it's brains dripping off of the sword protruding from its skull. 

Link pulled the sword free, and the corpse burned away into dust. 

"Ooh." Link smiled, staring at his reflection on the bluish metal. "I like that."

Link became a rhythmic machine, slicing and dicing his way through countless moblins. They were falling to his blade one by one, and soon he had carved a path of destruction past their barricades. He saw that his Squad had had similar success, and were happy to have discovered a way to effectively kill off the moblins. 

He ran through another moblin, and slashed through one to his right. He feinted left to avoid the blade of a moblin, and sliced its head off. He turned to find a moblin in two burning pieces on the ground behind him. 

"What's up, Sergeant." Rom said merrily. The Sheikah moved extremely fast for his size, and was punching and slashing his way through the scores of moblins.

As Link slashed the last moblin, the team gathered around him. 

They stared at each other for a few minutes, surprised and happy at the same time that they had survived the battalion of bloodthirsty creatures. Suddenly, someone clapping broke the silence. 

Link and the Squad turned to see a man standing there, with long black robes draped across his body and his head obscured from view by a hood. He was holding a long staff with a translucent crystal molded on the top. 

"Well done." The mysterious figure said, walking over the corpse of a moblin that was riddled with bullet holes. 

"You are clearly the men that General Garrison has sent to me. You are truly graced by the Goddesses." The figure approached Link, and and continued speaking.

"You have destroyed a base, killed countless of my troops, and have now cleared out this base of troops. For this I congratulate you. You have passed the first test." The figure lowered his hood, and he appeared to be a man in his early thirties, black hair, about 5'5", and black eyes.

"Who are you? Are you an enemy commander?" Link was extremely confused. This man had referred to the moblins as his troops, but Link felt no evil radiating from this person.

"I am Colonel Moretti. It is an honor to meet you, Hero of Time." 


End file.
